Chapter nine

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear

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When Naruto returned, it was just after midnight. The dark sky was alone, all the stars hiding behind clouds or not bothering to show at all, and the wind blowing smoothly. Naruto gently opened the door, not wanting to make any loud noises. Naruto saw a dark figure sitting on the couch, seeming asleep. Thanks to Kyuubi, Naruto could see in the dark better than usual, but not as clear as he would have liked. Naruto let out a small sigh, clicked the door shut behind him and went into his bedroom.

The trunk in his room was in the same spot, but the lid was closed and padlocked. Naruto bent and fiddled with the lock. He would probably need to find a better one. Maybe one that would only unlock with his chakra… hmm…

A sudden grunt from behind made Naruto turn to see Gamataikobara leaning against the separating wall. His face was as grim as usual, and his sword hung on the toad's hip.

"I'm letting you know, that the Uchiha has not stepped foot into this area of your home." He said, his toadlike speech lacing his words. It more or less came out as an understandable croak. Naruto nodded, said his thanks and Gamataikobara relieved himself of duty with a 'pop'.

Naruto fell onto the edge of his bed, with his head in his hands. He was tired, hungry and too worked up to sleep. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to de-stress. The opponent he fought before was a mystery. A Sharingan? Naruto couldn't decide who it might have been. Itachi was gone, and it wouldn't have been Sasuke. At the present moment, nothing else came to his mind.

'Trying looking underneath the obvious.' Kyuubi's tired voice came to Naruto's ears.

"Meaning…?" Naruto asked softly. Kyuubi was still tired from the healing?

'Brat. If you can't understand what that means, then you won't figure out who it is.' Kyuubi responded, a soft snicker following his words.

"Oh, and I suppose you know who it is?" Naruto scoffed. He felt Kyuubi nod.

'Yeah, I know who.' Kyuubi said before pulling away. Naruto shook his head. Of course, Kyuubi wouldn't help him. Either he was too tired to, or he was trying to prove a point.

Naruto lay down on the bed, scratched his stomach and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, he couldn't fall asleep, and cursed when the sun began to rise.

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Sasuke opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Damn, he hated sleeping on a couch. The sun was now peeping over the horizon and sending gold streaks across the floor. Sasuke stood, bracing his hands on his hips and leaning back, causing several vertebrae in his back to crack back into place.

He looked through cupboards, wanting to find something for breakfast. He looked around and spotted a pot plant on a window sill. He raised an eyebrow and walked over. A small card sat next to the plant and Sasuke read it.

'Teme. Since you're supposed to be leaving today, I thought you might

like something other than ramen for breakfast.'

Sasuke flipped the card through his fingers and looked at the plant. His lips twitched, a smile threatening to break through. Tomatoes, eh? The plant was dotted with small cherry tomatoes.

Sasuke broke a couple off, put one into his mouth and chewed. It was nice to have tomatoes after several days of Ramen. Bleck.

Naruto was not in sight, so Sasuke walked near the entrance of the bedroom (he wasn't game enough to go into it after yesterday).

Naruto was lying face first into the mattress, soft snores escaping his lips. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before, and his hair was dishevelled. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke noticed the trunk was still open, but a replacement lock was lying next to it. Naruto muttered something in his sleep, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Oi, Dobe. Wake up."

"Baka…" Naruto muttered, apparently still asleep. Sasuke tapped his fist against the wall, knocking.

"Naruto. It's time for me to leave…" Sasuke announced, voice louder than before. This roused Naruto from sleep, and the blonde lifted his head, and then his body slowly followed. Naruto now sat cross-legged on the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Leaving so soon?" Naruto yawned. Sasuke shook his head.

"Yes. If I leave now, I can make it back to Konoha in a day if I run." Sasuke said. Naruto gave a final yawn before lifting himself off the bed. Strangely enough, he grabbed an empty bag from under the bed and began to fill it with scrolls, kunai and he retrieved the manila folder and stuffed that into the bag too.

"What's that for?" Sasuke asked. Naruto paused, swallowed, and looked at Sasuke, his face almost emotionless. Almost. Sasuke could see the fear hiding behind his eyes.

"This," Naruto gestured to the bag in his grasp, "Is for the trip. I can't just leave here empty handed." Naruto huffed, before moving into the kitchen.

"You're coming? But you said-"

"I know what I said. But I've… I've changed my mind." Naruto said, pushing a ramen-cup into the already half full bag. Hey, if they found a stream or something, he could cook some ramen…

"And what made you do that? You were pretty adamant about not going." Sasuke said, coming into the kitchen and leaning against the counter. Naruto merely shrugged and dropped the bag onto the ground. He grabbed his mask and cape off the hook and pulled them on. A few strands of blonde hair were seen under the cloak, but Naruto didn't seem to mind.

"Are we going, or what?" Naruto's voice was slightly muffled by the mask, but Sasuke could understand him. Sasuke walked over to the tomato plant, pulled the rest of the miniature fruits off, and pushed them into his mouth, all the while giving Naruto a look through the corner of his eye. Naruto shifted uncomfortably, and headed towards the door.

Sasuke followed, and soon they reached the archway.

"Now, do you want to go to the closest archway to Konoha?" Naruto asked, moving his hands in front of him and doing the hand signs. Sasuke merely nodded, and tried to prepare his stomach for the transition.

Unfortunately, Sasuke had to (again) empty the contents of his stomach once they left the void (as Naruto had so kindly named it). Naruto waited patiently for Sasuke to finish puking, and then they began to walk again. Apparently though, Naruto seemed to be in no hurry to get there, taking each of his steps slowly. At this rate, it would be three days before reaching Konoha.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel uncertain. He knew Naruto didn't want to come to the village, but he was coming with him anyway. Sasuke scratched the back of his arm as they walked, while Naruto looked around. Sasuke thought that his actions were somewhat paranoid.

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It was around 9pm when they decided to pack up camp. They were another two days walk from Konoha, and Naruto seemed as stressed as he was when they had left. Sasuke had been the one to suggest stopping and camping. Naruto had nodded almost immediately, and picked a large bent tree as the camp spot. It was a nice looking tree, to say the least. It would probably reach almost twenty feet high, if it had not been bending over so that its leaves brushed against the earth. Almost as though it was bowing to them.

Sasuke had started a camp fire, using one of his Fire Jutsu. Naruto was sitting back relaxing against the base of the tree, his hood down and mask bunched up around his neck.

"So. What made you change your mind?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked at Sasuke and then cast his gaze downwards. Apparently, they were not going to discuss the subject. So, Sasuke decided to try a different approach.

"Ok then. If you won't talk about that… why do you have the old picture of us, rather than a more recent one?" Sasuke said, poking the fire. Naruto took a deep breath in, and then let it out. He shifted closer to the fire, so he was almost a metre away. Sasuke thought that the shadows of the fire gave Naruto a somewhat haunted appearance.

"I think…" Naruto said, almost whispering, "That I would rather have a picture of us, when we were all happy. When we were a team and friends, rather than having a picture of us just before… Just before everything went bad, before I was rejected by the village and… and Sakura…" Naruto trailed off, nice eyes seeming distant and lost in thought.

Sasuke sighed, letting the subject drop. After a few silent minutes, Naruto let his eyes slid shut and drifted of to sleep. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Who would have know that someone has strong as Naruto, could have gone through so much pain? All this turmoil, anger and pain...

Sasuke closed his eyes, and alowwed himself to drift off too.

~ ҉ ~

Written by Urufu-chan

(Ochibi and Urufu)